Between early morning lectures, late-night research sessions and an ever-growing email inbox, parenting as a University faculty member is no small feat. The demands of childcare, from sleepless nights to school pickups, add another layer of complexity to an already full plate.
However, these professors say that University-sponsored resources make it possible for them to flourish in both their academic careers and family lives. From paid parental leave to Child Development Centers, they note that the University has taken steps to ease the challenges of parenting and create a more family-friendly environment on Grounds.
Assoc. Commerce Prof. Ann Backof is well-versed in balancing motherhood with an academic career. She began working at the University just after giving birth to her first child, which meant she had to simultaneously adjust to two new and demanding roles — mother and professor.
“There was no guidebook for either of these two new jobs I was taking on at that point in time,” Backof said. “There’s a lot of trial and error in a sense when you’re trying to figure out, ‘What am I going to be successful at?’”
Navigating the transition to a new workplace while becoming a mother also proved to be difficult for Asst. Economics Prof. Jessica Kripalani, who joined the University in 2023 after working at the University of Lynchburg.
“It’s a new University [and] a new experience,” Kripalani said. “And being a mom is all-encompassing.”
To ease the transition into parenthood, the University provides up to eight weeks of fully-paid parental leave or sixteen weeks with half-pay following the birth or adoption of a child. This leave, which can be taken all at once or in increments, must be used within a year of the qualifying event. New mothers in need of extended recovery time due to surgery or complications from pregnancy may also access short-term disability leave, which potentially adds six to eight more weeks of paid leave.
While these benefits offer crucial support, not every faculty member is immediately eligible for them. Backof started her faculty position at the University in 2012, just one month after giving birth to her first child. This rendered her ineligible for the paid-leave benefits, as they only apply to employees who had a child birth or adoption event while working. Backof’s husband, therefore, took time off from his job to care for their first son.
Despite the challenges she faced, Backof said that the support from her colleagues at the McIntire School of Commerce made a difference.
“Everyone was empathetic and caring and obviously wanted me to succeed at both jobs,” Backof said. “I think that helped me from day to day, to hear affirmations of ‘You’re doing a good job’ … As a new mom and a new employee, [it’s] something that you can’t forget.”
Another challenge for parenting professors is finding reliable childcare, and the University offers solutions. For example, the U.Va. Child Development Center — with North Grounds locations at Copeley Road and Earhart Street — serves children from six weeks old to pre-kindergarten, with rates ranging from approximately $1,100 to $1,500 per month. In addition to providing care, the Center emphasizes cognitive development through a structured curriculum that includes instruction in phonics, music and STEM.
Backof, who went on to have twins in 2014, enrolled all three of her children in the University’s Child Development Center. Backof not only felt her kids were being well taken care of but also that the Center supported their intellectual development.
“As an educator, [I] loved [that] they had a structured program to help develop the kids, not only socially and emotionally, but a cognitive side to it as well,” Backof said. “They would actually do little assessments of your kids to help you know they are on track developmentally.”
In addition to full-time childcare, the University offers the Back-Up Care Advantage Program in partnership with Bright Horizons, a global childcare organization with locations in Charlottesville. The University’s program allows employees to pay $15 per child for up to 10 days of care, providing a solution for employees facing unexpected disruptions in their regular arrangements.
While Kripalani has not used the University’s childcare centers — as she initially became a part-time instructor to care for her daughter when she was young — she emphasized how important this type of flexibility has been to her success.
“My boss has been wonderful about making sure my classes are scheduled during [my daughter’s] school hours,” Kripalani said. “My husband’s an emergency room doctor, so he doesn’t have a schedule, so I need to be the one that can pick her up and drop her off from school.”
Despite the merit of current resources, some faculty had to make do without them before they were implemented. For Kripalani, whose daughter was still breastfeeding when she started teaching, finding designated lactation rooms was a struggle. However, the University has since added more resources for mothers on Grounds, including lactation rooms in new construction like the Student Health & Wellness Center and the Contemplative Commons.
While their experiences as mothers and professors have been shaped by University policies and resources, both professors have experienced moments when the rewards of parenting and academia beautifully overlap — moments that capture the unique, intertwined nature of being a mother at the University.
One such moment for Backof came when she took her children Trick-or-Treating on the Lawn and ran into her students, a moment that brought her professional and personal worlds together.
“It was the first time that I had my full family unit come together and see both my students, who I care so much about, and my kids,” Backof said. “It was just a very neat experience to share those two worlds.”
Likewise, Kripalani said that she looks forward to when her paths as a mother and a professor will cross.
“One of my former students is a softball player, and she’s graduated,” Kripalani said. “I’m planning to take my daughter to one of her softball games.”
Both professors spoke to the value of raising their children in a community where academic and personal lives naturally intertwine — whether in taking a child to a colleague’s picnic, attending a student’s softball game or running into familiar faces downtown. For Backof, these everyday interactions serve as a source of lasting joy and connection.
“[What] each of these experiences shows is connecting the things that are most important to me, being my family, and then taking pride in my work and what we do, and letting those two parties come together and benefit from each other,” Backof said.
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